Let’s recap on all the tea from Cape Town together, shall we?
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Simon Galloway
Without much introduction, we’d thought we’d share the biggest lessons from bumpy corners of the Cape Town track. Here’s a few of them:
1. Dude! Is it a….Cupra?
At the back of the grid? ABT Cupra is the only team in the championship to have all…three? drivers with zero points scored so far this season. After Robin Frijns sustained an injury in the opening race of the season in Mexico, Kelvin Van Der Linde stepped into duty. But after 5 rounds, it seems it’s been a tough ride for the new entrant to Formula E. Oof.
Not to mention that Cape Town wasn’t nice to the team that has a South African driver in it, as both of the cars were retired from the round just as their supplier Mahindra, due to safety concerns regarding the rear suspension on all four cars. At least Mahindra is 7th in the championship standings…
But it’s not as amazing for Mahindra as well. Although Di Grassi is currently 10th in the championship, with 18 points on his account, his teammate is down under in 17th, with only 8 points on the board. Further are only Fenestraz, Maserati and their customer ABT Cupra. Can the team salvage some points in the next few races? Can they avoid more trouble?
2. It’s Jag vs Porsche vs Nissan now
There’s only three different manufacturers occupying the top of the standings now, and it’s Porsche, Jaguar and Nissan respectively.
Porsche currently claims the leadership with both Tag Heuer Porsche Team as well as their customer Avalanche Andretti. Envision, currently second in the standings uses Jaguar’s power train, and it seems they’re more in tune with their machine than Jaguar TCS Racing is currently. McLaren, currently fourth in the standings is powered by Nissan.
Nissan themselves aren’t doing to bad so far in the season, and during the qualifying and big chunk of the race we’ve had Sacha Fenestraz put nothing but an amazing performance. Claiming pole in only his 6th race in Formula E, a mistake towards the end of the race eliminated his from the chance of a podium, promoting Cassidy and Envision into the third spot. That helped Envision jump into the second position in the standings, despite a rough weekend for Buemi. As mentioned above, the “factory” team of Jaguar, Jaguar TCS Racing seems to be plagued by their own troubles currently, with Evans dropping to P15 after a penalty and Bird not starting the race at all after a shunt in qualifying group stages. They just can’t seem to catch a break.
It might not be as black and white as we’re presenting it to be, but after a quarter of the season done, these three emerge as the contenders for the title battle. We’re about to get spicy in here.
3. Cape Town sets the bar high
Formula E’s first travel to the sub-Saharan Africa has been honestly nothing but a success, in our humble opinion.
Cape Town E-Prix provided us with an incredible roller coaster of a race, some absolutely remarkable moves and performances by several drivers on the grid, but especially Da Costa and his charge for the win in the last laps of the race. Outrageous!
Fast, bumpy track and the streets of an absolutely iconic destination that is Cape Town and South Africa is an equation that screams perfect results. And we’re glad it’s here to stay for the upcoming seasons. It seems the response from spectators on track was also nothing short than fantastic. South Africa welcomed Formula E with open arms and seems to be excited about sustainability opportunities, which considering the global state of climate action is amazing to see. We’ve mentioned in our E-Prix preview the E-Fest that took place shortly before the race, and rumor has it that green technology is finding it’s way to the country.
Who do we see there next year?
4. James Rossiter won’t be pleased
We’ve hinted at this in lesson number one, but we imagine that Maserati’s team principal James Rossiter is probably having some sleepless nights lately. And that’s not necessarily surprising, considering the situation is a bit grim for him and his drivers. After 5 races, only Mortara has been capable of salvaging some points, having an astonishing number of 3 on his account. Despite starting second on the grid in Cape Town, Günther goes home with 0 points, after a mistake in the later parts of the race. Not all is done and dusted, and it seems that Maserati does have the pace necessary to fight in the front. All we’re saying is that with quarter of the season already completed, the task of climbing through the leader board is getting harder and harder with every race.
We guess it’s time to make them count then.
Here are our lessons from the Cape Town E-Prix, but you reckon we’re missing something? If yes, let us know in the comments what are YOUR lessons from this outrageously fantastic race we’ve got to witness all together. And don’t forget for next time: enjoy the race wherever you are ✨
